U.S. Rep. Tonko hears about heroin abuse in the Capital Region

Congressman seeks community input on eradicating scourge

Updated 9:14 pm, Thursday, August 14, 2014

Ideas for wiping out the scourge of heroin abuse in the Capital Region were diverse Thursday at The Crossings of Colonie, where Congressman Paul Tonko hosted a discussion on the problem.

They included:

Allow parents to force addicts into treatment, even involuntarily.

Reinvest in drug prevention programs at schools.

Open up supervised drug-injection sites.

Integrate addiction services that are provided in isolation.

Tonko, vice chairman of the Congressional Addiction Treatment and Recovery Caucus, convened the forum to learn from panelists and about 40 people in attendance, including recovering addicts and family members, counselors, treatment providers and law-enforcement officials.

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The problem was well-known to everyone in the room: Heroin abuse is on the rise in the cities and suburbs, among people of all ages and incomes. In the last year, Colonie Police responded to about 200 calls for overdoses of heroin and other opioids, like prescription painkillers, according to Colonie Police Chief Steve Heider. They responded to three overdoses this week, he said.

Panelists and audience members expressed wide-ranging concerns. There are too few treatment options for middle-class families, who cannot afford to pay out of pocket but are not eligible for financial assistance, said Alison McLean Lane, an Albany County legislator in the audience. Treatment is too often unavailable until someone lands in jail, said Keith Stack, executive director of the Addictions Care Center of Albany. A state law prohibiting police from making an arrest in some overdose situations also allows users back on the street to buy more heroin after emergency treatment, Heider said.

And there were proposals for addressing the problem. Heidi Troche showed slides of her daughter, a heroin addict who is now missing, and advocated for a law that would allow parents to petition a court to mandate treatment for an addict. Two audience members, who said they have worked as addiction counselors, praised Vancouver's supervised injection sites, which seek to reduce the harm caused by drug use without requiring the user to give up the drug.